TravelTalkOnline Forums Trip Reports (Read Only) SXM Trip Reports and Photos Days 27 - 29 The Beach and the Races

Feb 27 Hanging Out at Orient Beach
I had breakfast at Vesna Taverna and then dropped my laundry off before heading out for the day; the first order of business was to go to the Sint Rose Café in Philipsburg, I had stopped there yesterday and after chatting with some other customers I left before paying for my drink. I apologized to the servers and tipped them nicely, they wrok hard for their money and I wasn’t going to beat them out of the price of a drink. I got on the French Quarter bus and asked the driver to drop me off at Orient Beach; he let me out behind Andy & Cheryls, he charged me $10, more than usual, but still a bargain considering the cost of a taxi for just myself. I picked a chair in the second row and applied liberal amounts of SPF 50 to the areas that have seen very little sun so far this year; the tanned parts got the coconut oil treatment which is working out nicely. Not wanting to have a repeat of my December visit, I drank water most of the day and only had a few rum punches. While at the bar I met a nice young lady from South Carolina who was on a cruise ship; we talked for a while and when she said she had to get back I offered to split a taxi with her. We got into the cab and there was already a woman with her two children on board, I wasn’t aware that the taxis offered shared rides, but when the driver dropped me off just outside the cruise port he only charged me $6, not bad at all. I took a bus back to Simpson Bay and since I was feeling a little peckish I stopped at Pineapple Petes for a burger and fries. After my late lunch I walked down to Jimbos to see who was there for happy hour. The yacht crews are in town so the bar was doing a good business, some of my friends were going to the Pizza Galley for dinner, but I was still full from lunch so I went back to the room for a little rest and then went out for a few at the nearby bars. Everyone was getting ready for the start of the racing tomorrow so we made an early night of it turning in about 10:30.

Unbelievable


Feb 28 Philipsburg
Breakfast was at the hotel again and then I was off to Philipsburg, I like to sit on the boardwalk and watch the people go by, it was hot out and the water looked inviting, but I didn’t have my suit with me so I couldn’t go in. I picked up some rum to take home and a bottle of Ma Doudou orange ginger spiced rum as a gift for my boss. I took the bus to Marigot and had a nice lunch of whole snapper in Creole sauce at the Hot Spot, one of the restaurants along the waterfront. After getting back to Simpson Bay I went to the marina and a few of us spent a good part of the early evening drinking beers and chatting on Great Escapes, the boat my friend Dave will be skippering for the regatta. Once the beers ran out we headed off to the bars for a couple more before grabbing a water taxi to the party at PDP. It wasn’t as crowed as I remember in previous years, but the band was good and I had fun dancing with Maggie, who is crewing with Girls For Sail. They do the Caribbean regatta circuit and also offer sail training holidays; any of you gentlemen who would like to get your wives into sailing but don’t have the patience to teach them yourselves, this would be a good way to have them learn. The crews are all women and all the skippers I have met who work for them are very competent and professional. It was another early night for me, I took the water taxi back to the yacht club around 11:00 and walked back to the hotel where Ken was already asleep.

The boardwalk in Philipsburg


At the Sint Rose
March 1 Back to Orient Beach
I wanted to get a front row chair today so I had an early breakfast and headed off to the beach by way of Marigot. I had to transfer at the roundabout and again at the bus lot in Marigot, but it took no time at all and the driver dropped me off at the entrance to what appears to be the villa section of Orient Bay ( big brick entrance that says Baie Oriental). It is a short easy walk to the beach from there, maybe ten minutes; I enjoy walking and it is good exercise, something too many of us don’t get enough of these days. I arrived fairly early and got one of the many empty front row chairs that were available; once again I drank mostly water, waiting until 1:00 before having my first rum punch. The waves were breaking heavily on the shore line down near Waikiki, but not so at the C/O section. I spent my time between sunning and swimming and should have used more sun cream than I did; I kept checking if I was tuning red, but the sting didn’t set in until later that night. After happy hour I walked back out to the road and backtracked my way to Simpson Bay where I stopped at the yacht club to see the results of the days racing. Surprisingly Skyelark took second place in her class; she is a heavy boat originally designed for a couple to sail alone around the world and usually doesn’t do well in the light winds that plagued the fleet today. Ken has joined the team for the regatta and between his calling of tactics and the new A sail Dan and Em bought for this year they did much better than expected. I went down to the marina to congratulate them and stopped off to have a couple beers. I was very tired from all the sun I had gotten so I went back to the room for a short rest before heading back to Philipsburg for the party; I didn’t wake up until around 10:30, when Ken came in so I gave up on the idea of attending the nights festivities and caught up on some much needed sleep.

The crowd wait for the bridge to open